Azilum
Azilum (Ah zee lum) Azilum is the second largest city in Pennsylvania, United States and the county seat of Westmoreland County. It is located on the Lenape bluff of the Susquehanna River, in the Northeast corner of the Commonwealth. In the 2010 census the city has a population of 880,543. The greater Azilum metropolitan area has a population of 947,060. Azilum is the geographic and cultural center of the Susquehanna River valley, and has incorporated the former anthracite coal and industrial communities of the region. The city was incorporated on February 14, 1815, as a borough in Westmoreland County and as a city on April 23, 1885. It became a major industrial city, a center of mining and railroads, and the only major port with of river transport down to the Chesapeake Bay. Historically the industrial power house of Pennsylvania, it's industrial might has been eclipsed by a strong and thriving financial sector. It remains an important center of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film and especially music. Currently, the city boasts several major sports franchises, the NFL Franchise the Pioneers, MLB White Tails,and the NBA Grenadiers. Azilum hosts the United States Grand Prix of Formula One, the Susquehanna International Jazz Festival and Le Grand Maison Film Festival. History 'Beginnings through 1800' The area which would ultimately become the city of Azilum was inhabited by the Native tribes of Susquehannocks and the Lenape. The high bluff over the river is called the Lenape Bluff. 1648: ' The first European to enter the Susquehanna Valley was a Swedish fur trapper and trader named Sigmar Karlsson. Karlsson decided to take up residence in the region amongst the natives. He took a native wife and lived a solitary existence on an island in the center of the river, which still bears his name. It is called Karllson's Rock due to the massive 50 foot high chunk of glacial granite which dominates the island. ' 1660: '''The next European to penetrate down the Valley is the French Catholic Missionary, Father Marcel LeFanue. His diary reports that Karlsson, now elderly and infirm, was grievously ill. Legend has it that he also discovered that the local Lenape refused to have discourse with him and shunned him in his madness. LeFanue tried to aid Karlsson, but Karlsson was too far gone. He did something to enrage the local Lenape and the natives apparently attacked. Karlsson is said to have taken his own life by throwing himself from the Rock. '''1671: '''Sixty English Settlers from the colony of Connecticut arrive in the area. They build a settlement on the East bank of the Susquehanna, called Fort Charles. '''1694: The Mary Locke Witch Trial. Often called an epilogue to the the infamous Salem Witch Trials, The Mary Locke trial found 10 members of the community accused of witchcraft and consorting with the devil. Three people, all of them women, were hanged. 1711: A blight on crops in the summer cause the Lenape to abandon the Wyoming Valley. The settlers at Fort James are devastated by famine in an incredibly bitter winter. Two thirds of the settlement are lost, and the survivors return to Connecticut. 1710s to 1730s: Many missionaries and travelers travel up and down the river. Moravian missionaries in particular concentrate with little success on the Lenape, but they are allowed to freely move through the entire region by the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy. 1730: '''The Lenape return to the region, erecting permanent settlements on the bluff which still bears their name. '''1750: The Susquehanna Company is incorporated in Connecticut colony. They return to the Lenape Valley and erect a new settlement on the site of the old Fort James. They call this one Fort Ogden, and also erect a smaller settlement on Karlsson's Island. 1753: ''' At the urging of the Moravian Vicar, the settlers endeavor to tear down the pagan standing stones on Karlsson's Island. This sends Chief Teedyuskung of the local Lenape into a fury. The settlement is attacked at night and most of the settlers are slain Many of the survivors are carried away as prisoners. The few who remained flee, returning to Connecticut. '''1756: '''A small raiding party of French and Mohawk fighters attack the Lenape during the French and Indian War. '''1765: The Susquehanna Company renews its mandate and returns to the Lenape Valley. They come with over 200 fighting men and are accompanied by a unit of British Army regulars. The House of Burgesses in Connecticut negotiates the sale of the land with the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. 1766: The settlement is plagued by misfortune and unexplained disappearances. A dispute with the Lenape breaks out into hostilities. Chief Teedyuskung is burned alive in his house. The settlers drive off the Lenape with the help of the British Regulars and members of a Dutch Privateer Company. 1767: The Region is organized as the County of Westmoreland. It has two principle settlements: Georgetown and Stoke. 1770 to 1775: A series of skirmishes between Pennsylvania and Connecticut settlers occurs. The battles are small scale with few casualties on either side. It culminates with the Plunket invasion and the Battle of "Rampart Rocks." The First Pennamite-Yankee War terminates. 1776: A unit from Westmoreland joins the Continental Army. 1778: On July 5th, a group of Lenape sweep into the valley secretly at night. They massacre the small group of settlers on Karlsson's Rock, setting fires and causing a two-day reign of terror. Settlers would shun the island from now on. All attempts from then on made to settle there has ended in mysterious violence and death. 1779: The Sullivan Expedition leaves from Westmoreland to seek vengeance on the Lenape for the previous year's massacre. They march several hundred miles into New York State against the Iroquois Confederacy. Veterans of the Company who return to Westmoreland swear a solemn oath to never speak of the events on that March. The native tribes never again inhabit the Lenape Valley in any serious numbers. 1783: '''Second Yankee-Pennamite War happens. Houses in Westmoreland are burned and Westmoreland is temporarily renamed as Londonderry. '''1784: The Yankees drive off the Pennamites and the second Yankee-Pennamite War concludes. 1793: Two businessmen, Robert Morris and Phillipe Gerard purchase substantial acreage from the State of Connecticut on the Lenape Bluff over the Susquehanna. They concoct a scheme to create a refuge for French Royalist emigres. They initially name it Asylum but within a year it is changed to Azilum to avoid confusion with a refuge for the demented. 1794: In the hope that Queen Marie Antoinette would be able to escape France, a home is erected for eventual use. It is called Le Grand Maison. 300 half-acre lots are laid out, and within the year almost two hundred emigre households reside within Azilum. 1797: The Duke of Orleans (later Louis Philippe, King of France) and his brothers, the Duke of Montpensier as well as the Count of Beaujolais, visit and reside for a time at Le Grande Maison. 1799: The French Community stays on the West Bank of the Susquehanna and the English settlement remains on the east side. The Congress of the United States finds in favor of Pennsylvania and the Lenape Valley officially becomes part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the County of Westmoreland. 1800: The arrival of the Buridan Family in Azilum, a wealthy, influential, and reclusive clan, they bring their vast fortune to Azilum and the town's prospects immediately improve. 1801 to 1900 1801: Royalist refugees from the War in the Vendee begin to arrive in Azilum. Many of them are aided in the crossing of the Atlantic and getting established by Marcel Buridan and his Société de Commerce de L'Atlantique. 1804: Buridan claims Le Grand Maison, purchasing it from the town. 1805: Jesse Fell burns anthracite coal on an open grate for the first time. 1806: The first of many coal mines are established in the region. 1809: Le Grande Maison is redesigned by an exiled royalist and well know engineer and architect, Philippe Michel Henri, Vicomte de St-Claire. 1810: Both the English and the French communities of the Lenape grow in size. The village of Stoke is incorporated into the borough of Georgetown. 1812: Nicolas Buridan, eldest son of Marcel, raises a regiment and leads it as Colonel to join the fight against the British. 1814: Vicomte de St-Claire himself designs the town of Azilum, promising the truly modern, planned city of the future. 1815: Azilum and Georgetown are incorporated as a boroughs in the County of Westmoreland. The first bridge across the Susquehanna is built. 1817: The Azilum and Susquehanna Trading Company is established with three riverboats: The Louis Philippe, The Marie Antoinette, and The Louis XIV. It initially begins trade between the Lenape Valley and Harrisburg, eventually reaching trade with Baltimore. 1821: A bitterly cold winter descends. The thermometer reaches -20 and more than 30 inches of snow falls. Bandits and outlaws, supposedly driven by hunger and desperation, descend upon the Lenape Valley. More than a dozen people are murdered and more disappear in the midst of a blizzard. 1823: The Susquehanna and Delaware gravity railroad is established, as a model to move coal from the region to points east, like New York City. Coal also begins being shipped down river by riverboat. 1826: The local Quaker Community creates a stop on the Underground Railroad and local Quaker Samuel Aldaeus gains some notoriety with his polemics against slavery. 1831: First canal boat departs Stoke on the East Bank which connects to canals that move goods to Philadelphia. 1834-35: Year of Locusts followed by another brutal winter, famine claims many lives, particularly among the poor immigrants who have come to the area to work in the mines. 1839: The Opera House and the Cathedral of Saint-Brieuc are completed. 1840: In order to provide freedom and equality, the Quaker community welcomes free blacks and they establish a separate colony for them on a nearby hill. It has its own textile mill and is fairly prosperous. When blacks try to work in the mine, there is a riot and violence and four people are slain in a night-time confrontation. 1843: Irish immigrant workers begin to arrive in larger quantities. 1846: Artillery and soldiers from Azilum leave to fight in the Mexican War. 1850: The first daily paper is published in French titled, Le Mot. 1852: The English language Times-Record is first published. 1854: A not-so-friendly competition between English and French speakers as Georgetown and Azilum compete for advancement and culture. Azilum gets running water and a permanent fire department; Georgetown gets working gaslights. 1860: The Westmoreland Artillery Volunteers are organized and attached to the Pennsylvania 63rd "Royal Zoauves" regiment which is led by Colonel Etienne Buridan. 1860: The Armées Catholique et Royale, the principle social club of the city whose membership is restricted to families with claim to title back in France and families descended from veterans of the army of the Vendee, officially changes it's name to La Société Catholique Et Royale de Azilum. 1865: The Great Flood of '65. Damage is extensive on the East Bank. Georgetown and Stoke are damaged greatly. Azilum, on the bluff above the river, suffers far less damage. 1866: The Quaker community for Freedmen grows as many emancipated slaves move to the area settling in to farm and work in the Aldaeus family's textile mills. 1867: The train connecting Azilum-Georgetown to Philadelphia and New York City is completed. 1868: The massive influx of Irish immigrants swells the immigrant population to between 30 and 40 thousand throughout the anthracite region. 1869: The Cornerstone to the Westmoreland County Courthouse is built after much wrangling and back-room dealing, and only with financial aid from anglophones in Harrisburg is it built in Georgetown. 1871: The cornerstone to the Westmoreland County Prison is laid with Masonic rituals. 1873: The Panic of 1873 causes the worst Depression the country has seen. Unemployment is rampant and many workers try to organize and are met with violence. 1867 to 1874: The violence escalates and Irish immigrants known as The Molly Maguires are called terrorists and anarchists. They are blamed for over 80 unexplained murders and assassinations through the region in that time period. 1875: A Pinkerton detective infiltrates the Molly Maguires, and its inner-circle is brought to trial. The prosecution is unusual as the entirety of the prosecution is handled by lawyers from the mine company. The miners are found guilty. There is much outrage. 1876: June-Six of the alleged Molly Maguires are hanged in the Town Square in Georgetown. Five more are hanged throughout the coal region. July-''' Called the Bloody Centennial. A general strike throughout the region is called and the mines and railroads are shut down by the workers. National Guard Troops are called in to put down the strike. The Commerce Street Bridge across the river is closed. Hooded and cloaked men, speaking French, block off the streets of Azilum, sealing the French enclave off from the violence. Several anglophones are killed and go missing. A fire starts in the Rue Saint-Augustin, consuming three buildings and causing much panic. Four coal company executives are assassinated. Ultimately the riot is put down and the strike is broken. Dozens of leaders are arrested and others disappear. Martial Law exists in the city for the better part of the month until order is restored. '''1878: First telephone lines go up in Azilum and Georgetown. Asphalt is laid in the streets of Georgetown. 1879: Large populations of Chinese immigrants are imported to work in the mines to drive the price of local labor downward. 1880: Dame de la Miséricorde hospital is opened in Azilum. 1885: After much lobbying and ten years of political in-fighting the Boroughs of Azilum and Georgetown are consolidated into one city with the name of Azilum in the County of Westmoreland. 1887: Extensive work begins on digging a subway. Along with the subway, the Steam Heat Authority is incorporated and the Georgetown sections on the East Bank of the Susquehanna are honeycombed beneath with tunnels and vents that connect almost every building. 1890 Trolley cars are installed in the French District of the City, connecting the West Bank with the East Bank via the bridges. Neither the subway nor the Steam Heat Authority are installed in the French District. 1891: Osterhout Free Library Opens in the Georgetown district. 1892: Fortieth annual conclave of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Pennsylvania convenes in Azilum. There is trouble when they attempt to hold a ceremony on Karlsson's Rock. A terrible thunderstorm strikes that afternoon and a fist fight that starts at a baseball game erupts into a riot, killing at least five. 1895: The Azilum Board of Commodities and Trade opens for business. 1898: A volunteer regiment enlists to fight the Spanish American War. 1900: The first horseless carriage runs through the streets of Azilum. 1901 to 2000 1902: The Great Anthracite Coal Strike. After years of preparation, the United Mine Workers declares a general strike, halting all production of anthracite coal. This halt threatens the availability of Anthracite for heating throughout the country as winter approaches. There are pitched battles between workers and the Rail and Coal Police as well. During the summer the strike carried on and 8 workers were killed and countless were wounded. The Strike is not resolved until President Teddy Roosevelt intervenes. 1906: The village which began as a Quaker abolitionist refuge is now a fully integrated neighborhood with its own businesses and services which while more modest than those for whites is still thriving and independent on its own. It is renamed Aldaeus Heights in honor of one of the community's Quaker founders. 1909 : The first Chapter of the NAACP in Pennsylvania is formed in Aldaeus Heights. 1911: In an ambitious project, gaslights of the French District are replaced with electric lights. 1914: Londonderry Aerodrome opens, Azilum's first official airport and regular passenger service between Azilum, New York and Philadelphia is offered. 1915: Henriette Caillaux, wife of Azilum Mayor Joseph Caillaux, murders Gaston Calmette, editor of Le Mot, fearing publication of letters showing she and Caillaux were romantically involved during his first marriage. The trial is a bona fide media circus, drawing the attention news services around the country. Before it is over, sordid details about a famous opera singer and the Maestro of Compagnie D'Opéra de Azilum are implicated in perverse acts. Reputations are ruined but Mms. Caillaux is acquitted of the crime. 1915: Enormous suffragette gathering and March through Azilum, ten thousand women are reported to attend. 1916: A mechanical failure causes the central span of the Canal Street Bridge, a cantilever-type structure, to crash into the Susquehanna River, killing 13 workers. 1916: An explosion at the Shawnee Munitions Plant in the neighborhood of Petrova Hill creates a sudden panic over saboteurs. Both German spies and Bolshevik sympathizers are accused. Six Germans and three Russians are arrested. One Russian hangs himself in prison. 1918: The Spanish Flu strikes. It hits Azilum particularly hard. Nearly 9% percent of the city's 200,000 citizens are killed. Estimates are as high as 12,000 people dying between 1918 and 1920. 1919: The Volstead Act is passed and Prohibition is the Law of the Land. 1923: Marcus Garvey comes to Aldaeus Heights and opened a branch of his Universal Negro Improvement Association. The idea of black separatism was taken seriously and the community had its own Police and Fire Department to match their merchants, restaurants, churchs and a thriving nightclub scene. The had a Negro League baseball team called the Zouaves. 1925: The Banking and Insurance industries grow in Azilum, the Roaring Twenties are a vast period of rapid expansion and Azilum grows rich. The French District becomes well know for its wild and decadent parties and it's underground nightclubs are legendary. 1925 to 1929: While not as wild as the legendary mobsters of Chicago, there is a constant undercurrent of violence in Azilum. The three prominent gangs at this time are Irish, Italian and African American. The Irish were from the neighborhood of Saint Brigid, called by the papers and radio, the Molly Maguires. The Italian gang, called simply the Lazarro gang, came from the roughneck laborer families who lived in the rough, East Bank community called Dockside. Aldaeus Heights had its own criminal gang known predominantly as King Richard's Boys. The low intensity criminal warfare that starts in this period remains in place in one form or another with different gangs through to the present day. 1929: The Stock Market crashes, start of the Great Depression. 1931 to 1935: The Westmoreland County War. The Westmoreland County War was a series of coal mining-related skirmishes, executions, bombings, and strikes (both attempted and realized) that took place in Westmoreland, Azilum, and the surrounding area during the 1930s. The incidents involved coal miners and union organizers on one side and coal firms and law enforcement officials on the other with the city's criminal gangs alternately taking advantage of the conflict and aiding one side or the other in the war. 1932: The Westmoreland County Sheriff, the infamous J.T. DuBois, declares his allegiance to the mining companies famously saying, " I did all in my power to aid the operators… there was no compromise when labor troubles swept the county and the 'Reds' invaded the Lenape Valley." 1933: There are more than 15 bombings, six murders and five incidences of arson in Azilum. The National Guard is called in to occupy the city. The strikers expected protection, but upon replacing deputized mine guards, the National Guard broke the picket lines instead. On May 24, a union rally was tear-gassed, and Sheriff DuBois rescinded county members' right to assemble. By June 17, the last mine had been returned to work by force. No concessions were given by the mine operators. July: The Travailleurs Rouges, the local branch of the Communist National Miners' Union, make a play to pick up where the broken UMW left off. 1933: Prohibition is repealed and some of the criminal gangs' power in Azilum is lessened. 1934: The Labor Violence continues with the battles between Coal and Rail police and union miners raging. The Westmoreland County district attorney is killed by a car bomb. Sheriff Dubois bulldozes several miner's camps and many of the miners are run off at gunpoint.The Travailleurs Rouges are driven underground and the UMW returns. The election of a Democratic Governor causes a change. The National Guard stops assaulting workers. 1935: The National Guard is now deployed to protect the workers and the governor declared the behavior of the Coal and Rail Police "The worst reign of terror in the history of the Commonwealth." 1936: The river floods in early June and the remainder of the summer is plagued with record heat. Disease is rampant in the city, prompting the city to utilize CCC money to improve and modernize it's sewers, expanding to the French District and points on the West Bank. 1939: West Bank Studios, a film company, attempts to set up Azilum as an East Coast alternative to the Hollywood Movie Industry. 1942: With America's entry into the War, Azilum enjoys almost full employment. The local anthracite mines produce more than they have ever before and arms and munitions plants are in almost 24 hour production. 1945: Japan and the Germans surrender. 1950: A consortium of "local business men" coordinate and invest to turn a run down West Bank neighborhood called the Pork Shoulder into Monte Carlo on the Susquehanna. They buy up homes and properties to build casinos. They invite several insiders from Cuba, very familiar with the Casino business to make it a success. 1950: The Azilum Pioneers Football Team is added to the NFL as an expansion team. 1952: Construction of the Interstate System begins. The interstates form the perimeter around Azilum, it bisects the exclusive Breton Heights community from most of the rest of the West Bank, effectively walling off most of the city from the wealthiest inhabitants. The interstate lies almost exactly on the City Line. Most everything inside the perimeter is handled by the Azilum Police Dept. Everything outside the Perimeter is handled by Westmoreland County Sheriff's Dept. 1953: The first members of a small population of Cubans move into a neighborhood on the West Bank. This is the community that would become known as the Latin Quarter. 1954: The Westmoreland County District Attorney impanels a grand jury to investigate suspected communists in UMW and other local Unions. 1955: Lists of subversive persons and organizations are circulated throughout the County. People are Blacklisted and many people find themselves fired from public positions and from jobs. June-''' The Communist Control Act was used to bust and weaken the Unions citing "Communist-Infiltrated Organizations" were "not entitled to any of the rights, privileges, and immunities attendant upon legal bodies". '''1956: March- Théâtre de Babylone, built in the classic style of Azilum's original design, is completed and premieres Becket's "Waiting For Godot" the second location to stage the play after Paris. June- The Riviera, the first Casino in Azilum opens with The Rat Pack as the headlining act. Within two years the Sands and the Cleopatra are also erected. 1959: The River Slope Mine disaster occurs. 39 miners are killed as the river collapses into the mine. The disaster seems to cripple the Anthracite industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania. 1960-65: The Cuban Revolution begins a diaspora of Cuban emigres. A large community of Cuban emigres arrive in Azilum, the city's history and culture lending itself to be friendly to the plight of those fleeing the new communist regime. The Latin Quarter becomes one of the principle features of the city into the modern days. During this period, the French District becomes a well know musical enclave, it hosts several famous recording studios and is well-known venue. The Beatles play at Pioneer Stadium. 1964: Aldaeus Heights Riot- The police shoot an unarmed black man on Easter Sunday and a peaceful protest turns into a riot which last for three days. 1965: March- After the Bloody Sunday incident in Selma, there is a Civil Rights March from Aldaeus Heights down to Georgetown. They are met with violence from Westmoreland County Sherrif's deputies. 1966: The Arrowhead Project, part of the US Dept. of Defense's Distant Early Warning System, is established 15 miles up the Susquehanna River from Azilum. This base is adjacent to the Arrowhead Point Nuclear Power Plant. 1967: The American Basketball Association is formed. Azilum has an inaugural team, the Grenadiers. 1968: The Assassination of Martin Luther King causes tensions to rise with the Westmoreland County Sheriff's Dept. A traffic stop turns violent and a riot erupts. 1969-''' The Azilum Whitetails join the National League expansion with the city's first ever MLB franchise. '''1970: Teller-Weston Labs, located in Azilum is instrumental in designing new telecommunication sattelites. 1970: Merrigold Labs, located in Azilum is instrumental in designing new telecommunication satellites. 1973: Construction of Fennec Financial Tower, the tallest building in Azilum is begun. 1974: William Parker Powell, serial killer is slain after killing 9 people from the summer of 73 to 74. Experts believe he may be responsible for as many as 26 deaths. 1977: Azilum gets the US Formula One of Grand Prix for the first time. 1979: The Susquehanna, Pittsburgh and Chicago Railroad is ordered liquidated due to bankruptcy, and debt owed to creditors. Passenger rail service in and out of Azilum is suspended until Amtrack purchases the line in 1985. 1980's : The 80's marked a beginning of decline in business and industry in Azilum as jobs the economy become increasingly more financialized and manufacturing is exported to overseas. 1980: Members of a Black Separatist Group called the Universalist Liberation Front take over a tenament block in Aldaeus Heights. 1981: The Emerald City gang war erupts over the cocaine trade in Azilum. It is called so because it begins with a massacre of 14 people at the Emerald City Night Club. 1983: The Petrov's Hill Lincoln Plant is closed, leaving 5,000 people unemployed. 1984: The Emerald City Gang War comes to a violent close when 7 members of the Blanco Drug Cartel are violently murdered. The major drug suppliers in Azilum now come primarily from sources in Hong Kong and Corsica. 1985: April-''' The Centenial Celebration of the incorporation of Azilum is celebrated in the city. 'November 15 -' Local Real Estate Magnate and business magnate Maximilian Buridan is slain in a car bombing. Later that same night four Azilum City Police officers are slain in a violent shoot out with known members of black streets gangs. 'November 17-' The Westmoreland County Sheriff's Dept. issues an arrest warrant for the Universalist Liberation Front Leader Abdulla Mifumo in connection to the gangland slaying of Buridan and the police officers. Mifumo refuses to surrender and the ULF holes itself up in the tenement their group has taken over. Police surround the location and the Federal Authorities are called in to deal with the situation. 'Nov 17 through 22-' A wave of violence sweeps through Azilum, with murders, arsons and racially motivated attacks throughout the city. It becomes known as The Terror and it ends with the National Guard being deployed to keep order. 'Nov 23-' Westmoreland County Sheriff Gerard Boulanger ordered an end to the stand off and two police helicopters drop incendiary devices on the ULF Headquarters. The devices cause a massive fire, which destroys the tenament. The Fire Dept. refuses to act out fear for their own safety. The fire spreads and 63 residences are destroyed 11 ULF members and 14 other people are killed. 'Nov 26-' Martial Law is lifted. 'Nov 27-' Sheriff Boulanger is suspended pending an investigation. '1986-' Pennsylvania Attorney General launches an official inquiry into the events of the Terror and the Firebombing. The investigation lasts almost a year and it clears the Sheriff's department of any wrong doing. There are mass civil rights protests and increasing tensions. '''1989: Meteor strike in the mountains to the Northeast of Azilum creates an explosion that ca be heard as far away as Philadelphia and New York City. There are various reports of UFOs, Black Helicopters, Russian agents and reports of strange series of lights and noises coming from the Arrowhead Facility. 1991: Wages are flat in the region as manufacturing jobs disappeared and have bee replaced by service jobs. For the first time since 1900 manufacturing jobs dip below fifty percent of the workforce. 1991: Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and 6 other people are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane coming over the city of Azilum. 1995: January- The very first meeting of the newly organized World Trade Organization is held in Azilum. May-''' A copycat terrorist of the Oklahoma City Bomber is intercepted on its way to deliver a truckload of explosives to the Commidities Exchange, there is a running gun battle with police with three white separatists slain when their vehicle explodes. '''1997: School shooting of 14 students and 3 teachers at the John T. Banks Memorial High School. 2000: 2 million US gallons of coal sludge spill from a strip mining site endangering the city's water supply. 2001 to the Present 2001: '''The Azilum Board of Commodities and Trade is hailed as the world's most innovative Marketplace. It is known for the creation of obscure, speculative investments, including insurance backed investments and mortgage backed securities. It is all done based on very sketchy, questionable and quasi-legal investment schemes. '''2003: The Great Black Out. A bizarre electromagnetic pulse is generated from a power substation in the Financial District struck by lightning. The Power Outage is exasperated by a terrorist attack that is launched by an obscure group of techno-fetishists called the Panther Moderns using a powerful hallucinogen to cause a false panic about the SARS outbreak. Using this as cover, the group attempts a break-in at the Arrowhead facility. There is violence and a cordon of federal agencies descends on the Arrowhead site and an air-tight media blackout shrouds the incident in mystery. IT has been fuel for conspiracy theorists since. 2005: There is a new outburst of violence as the Solntsevskaya Bratva becomes one of the dominant criminal Outfits in Azilum. There is fierce conflict between the corsican, Brise de Mer, the chinese Son On Yi and the Russians for primary control of the underworld activity. 2006: Anti terrorism money funneled to the local Police causes a bitter struggle between Westmoreland County Sheriff and Azilum City Police. Funds and equipment meant to go to Azilum city police seem to disappear. Two policemen are slain by the Corsican Mafia causing public outrage. There is an investigation but no conclusive evidence can be found to bring indictments. 2007: Both the city and county turn to Prison Solutions LLC to build and administer and maintain its Corrections Facilities. 2008: The Global Financial Crisis. With the burst of the housing bubble, Stock Markets crashed The Commodities exchange drops a record 20,000 points over the course of three days. There is widespread distress that is felt throughout the economy. In the wake of the Financial Collapse the AIC Azilum Investment Consortium outrages the world by spending out 100s of millions dollars in executive bonuses in advance of the Group's bailout. The home of Jean-Robert Guillard is firebombed in Breton Heights. 2009: The City Administration of Azilum, having been incredibly over-leveraged with risky investments, is forced to take drastic actions and the city privatizes many city services like public transportation, sanitation, water, ambulance services, health and safety inspections. Westmoreland County follows a similar route with privitizing like electricity. 2010: Homeless camps turn from mere camps to entire enclaves. The Housing Crisis has spread so extensively that entire neighborhoods are all but denuded of citizens. The Barrens extends not just to industrial blight but to all but empty gated communities. 2011: Occupy Azilum. The global protest in Azilum is centered in King George Square. It gathers about 2000 protestors and after the first month the protesters divest themselves to a new strategy. Groups of protesters move to unoccupied and foreclosed homes in one of the city's now defunct gated communities, called Brookline Downs. On December 29, the Battle of Brookline occurs when the police, with backup resources from the County and other cities in the Commonwealth bulldozes the housing development. Within a few hours the entirety of Occupy is buried/scattered arrested. 2013: Prisoners for Cash Scandal blows apart. Corruption in the local judiciary is revealed when it is learned that Judges were receiving kickbacks to throw people into private prisons.